China's Jiangsu Province Wins Damages Against Chemical Firm in First Such Case

Chen Juan|Liu Jing

DATE : Aug 28 2018/SOURCE : Yicai

China's Jiangsu Province Wins Damages Against Chemical Firm in First Such Case

(Yicai Global) Aug. 28 -- The Chinese eastern province of Jiangsu has won damages against a local chemical maker in the country's first case of a provincial government taking a company to court for environmental damages.

A court in Taizhou ordered Anhui-based Haide Chemical to pay CNY54 million (USD7.9 million) in restoration fees to the local government, state-owned broadcaster CCTV reported.

The judgment indicates that Haide Marketing Manager Yang Feng handed over 102 tons of waste lye produced by the company to Li Hongsheng in May 2014, who had not obtained qualifications for disposal of such hazardous materials. The waste was then discharged into the Yangtze River and Xintongyang Canal, seriously polluting the environment and interrupting drinking water supplies in the cities of Jingjiang and Xinghua. The incident also occurred during the river's fishing off-season, causing huge losses to the water environment and fish resources.

The court said that Haide should make the payment to the capital account of Environmental Public Interest Litigations in Taizhou within 60 days of the verdict. However, both the defendant and agent did not show up for the judgment.

Haide Company had previously argued that the contaminated Yangtze River and canals had already been purified and restored automatically via the movement of water, and thus restoration by man was unnecessary.